


Overheard

by satiredichotomy



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-01
Updated: 2006-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-08 11:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12863868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satiredichotomy/pseuds/satiredichotomy
Summary: Elizabeth checks in with everyone on their first night.





	Overheard

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the First Night sga_flashfic challenge. Unbetaed.

Words were the building blocks of her line of work. But they were so much more than that to Elizabeth. She hadn't just built a career from her ability to use her language to perfection, they underpinned how she reacted in life, their subtle nuances permeating her brain and giving her something to play with and manipulate.

Being put in charge of Stargate Command hadn't even been as daunting as she'd thought, as there were always reports to make and aliens to negotiate with. It grounded her, because everything could be explained away on paper, broken up into manageable bite-size pieces.  
  
Antarctica gave her the opportunity to develop in other areas - learn the Ancient language, focus on the little knowledge they had about the Ancient people. She'd hoped against hope that they could get to Atlantis and possibly meet them; certainly learn about their technology and culture in their flying city.

She wasn't prepared for what she found at all.

She wanted to describe this beautiful city, with all of its wonders free for the taking. But there were no words that matched her awe when the city rose, no words that described the horror when Sheppard told them about the Wraith, no words that explained how overwhelmed she was when she lost her ranking military officer and somehow gained the population of a culled civilization.

No words at all.

^^^

"If you have some time free tomorrow, I would like to speak to you about further plans for my people. I understand that you will also be having meetings with your - senior staff? - and I would like to be present for anything that involves exploring this galaxy," Teyla requested.

Elizabeth smiled on the outside and winced on the inside. "Of course, Teyla. We value your knowledge and will make sure to include you in all relevant discussions."

That meant: _obviously we'll use you for anything that we need you for, but nothing else. And that meeting you want scheduled for tomorrow - not happening until I've met with my senior staff and discuss what_ our _priorities are first_.

Elizabeth had to stop herself from letting out an exasperated sigh. She knew that Sheppard trusted Teyla and the Athosian people, but that simply wasn't enough. She needed more time. Unfortunately, she was well aware that that was not something they had to spare.

Elizabeth continued her stroll, checking that the Athosians were comfortable in their quarters. Years of diplomacy had taught her how to treat allies, especially ones who had knowledge you wanted. Even if she didn't remember any of their names.

^^^

The Command Center was nearly empty, with a few lone Marines keeping watch and a technician on the night shift. She sighed as she saw McKay and Sheppard looking at a console and headed over.

She wasn't surprised to hear McKay sounding just as enthusiastic as he had when they first arrived. Nor was it unexpected to see Sheppard's laid-back demeanor finally fail a bit as he stood at McKay's side, looking tired and worn out.

"You two should really head off to your quarters," she greeted them.

Rodney's head bobbed up, a quick grin was flashed at her, and then he was staring back at the console again. "You really should see everything we've got access to already - just from his -" a quick nod in Sheppard's direction, "- gene."

"I'm sure I will," she replied, amused. Rodney hadn't even sounded disgruntled about not having the gene himself, which was always a nice omission. "But for now, it might be an idea to at least pretend to head to bed for the benefit of your respective departments. It's been a long day for everyone."

Sheppard's face darkened slightly at the reminder that he was now ranking military officer. She didn't feel bad about it, though. There were enough poor feelings inside of her for the things that truly deserved it.

Besides, she still wasn't entirely sure what to make of Sheppard. She originally wanted him along for the mission because she could see his potential usefulness, and that assumption was proving to be correct in the plain fact that he was stood here now initialising consoles and whatnot with McKay. But she hadn't looked at him as the leader of their military contingent. That was Sumner's job and Elizabeth had spent time working with him accordingly prior to the mission to make sure that her demands would be met.

She'd read Sheppard's file but files only went so far.

^^^

Her final stop was the labs, to make sure that the scientists got some sleep and didn't stay holed up with their treasures all night long. She was well aware that McKay might have imprinted his own unstoppable enthusiasm upon the other scientists.

But when she entered, all she saw was the Czech scientist talking to one of the Athosian children. She missed what the child said, but the Doctor sat down comfortably and started speaking - in Czech.

He began waving his arms around and his voice was filled with wonder and emotion. She didn't understand a word he said, but it didn't take long to realise that he was describing the city rising from the ocean. Her breath caught in her throat as he neared a close and she could almost see the droplets of water dripping from the spires as the city settled on the surface.

"Vsechno tece z tech vejsek a vystrelili jsme nahoru uplne navrsek a najednou Slunce. Slunicko proste proudilo do vsech voken."

Maybe there were words after all.

END

N.B. Zelenka's closing speech is taken from the [transcript](http://www.gateworld.net/atlantis/s1/transcripts/117.shtml) for "Letters from Pegasus", where he describes the rising brilliantly. In English, "All that water was falling down from that heights and we were shot up, absolutely on the top, and suddenly sun. Sun was simply shining to all windows."


End file.
